City Manager of Largo Florida

[Danielle La Belle]

Posting from Miami Herald - 05-20-07

Quote:

05/20/07
City candidate Steve Stanton's toughest test: Susan's debut
Sarasota played key role in former Largo manager's transition
Steven Stanton reveled in the job of running the city of Largo. He had police radios and scanners in his car to learn where trouble spots were, where the challenges for Largo's first responders were that day. He had to be prepared, engaged, all day, every day. It was his nature, as much as his job.
"I love my profession. I didn't know how much I loved it until it was gone," Stanton said. "Now, I really miss it. I know it's what I was born to do."
When Pinellas County's elite high rescue team, including Largo firefighters, were learning to rappel off a 300-foot wall at Tropicana Field, he was there, learning too, and bonding with his men. And he learned that such efforts are a whole lot less about personal courage than trust -- trust in his team members; trust in his equipment; trust in the training.
He ran marathons, competed in triathlons to stay in shape for the long haul.
After 17 years in Largo, 14 as city manager, he was widely known as a consummate professional. It's a job where tenures are more likely four years than 14. Largo, people and city leaders, seemed to love him.
As by now everyone who reads newspapers or listens to broadcast media knows, Steven Stanton is becoming Susan, making the difficult emotional -- and physical -- transition from living as a man to becoming a woman: years of counseling; hormone injections; one day, surgery.
Enter Susan Ashley Stanton. This week she began using her new name, adopting the feminine personal pronouns.
She had hoped to continue working in Largo and told trusted colleagues earlier this year about the decision to live as a woman. One of them leaked it to The St. Petersburg Times. Stanton's wife Donna had known for years that it would happen one day, and they hoped the Largo City Council would place their trust in Susan, too.
But it didn't work out that way. The city council fired Steven Stanton March 23 despite a city policy forbidding such discrimination, and the fact more than 350 citizens marched on City Hall on Stanton's behalf, including dozens of religious leaders from Largo churches and synagogues.
Yet she's refused to sue Largo, though legal advisors tell her the case is sound. "I love Largo. The people were so supportive for so long ..." she said. But her life was in turmoil.
Still, headhunters approached her as a highly qualified, and available, candidate to become Sarasota's next city manager, to fill the vacancy left by Michael McNees' forced resignation.
It was too soon, she said, but she couldn't turn her back on the opportunity. It was the ideal job, for too many reasons. She wants it badly. She has no other resumes out, and she's made the second cut, one of only a handful of people to make it to the top of all five city commissioners' evaluation lists.
Once again, she's looking for trust, and "authenticity." It's a word she uses often. It's what she's trying to learn to be again, authentic -- as a woman.
Sarasota served an important purpose in all that. First, Stanton brought Largo council members, department heads and chamber of commerce types here to witness our downtown's renaissance, to learn what made its redevelopment happen.
And during her final months moving toward a permanent change in identity, "the transition," she would leave Largo and visit Sarasota -- go to church, attend performances at Van Wezel, walk around Bayfront Park, St. Armands, downtown -- as a woman, learning to be, that word again, "authentic."
She said she found our community incredibly accepting, tolerant, a place where she found people especially friendly, and where she felt singularly comfortable. "I never had a bad experience; I loved the diversity there."
Commissioner and former Mayor Fredd Atkins has said that Steven Stanton's transformation to Susan -- the name his mother picked out in the event she gave birth to a daughter -- was not a problem for the commission, just for the media.
The former mayor makes it sound possible. His words were encouraging for Stanton.
She has advantages over the competition, on paper at least, especially considering her bay area tenure as chief executive of a slightly larger city, and the Sarasota commission's stated preference for a candidate with significant Florida experience. No one else even comes close.
Stanton has applied and will interview as a woman. She appeared in published photographs, wearing a woman's business suit, heels, and a pink knit shell, for the first time last Sunday in The St. Petersburg Times.
Donna will file for divorce shortly. She'd made it clear that when her husband began life as a woman full time, they would have to live apart, Susan said.
Their young son is as supportive as a 13-year-old boy can be under such a difficult circumstance, she said.
Susan Stanton has had the benefit of years of counseling and the advice of professionals around the country -- doctors, therapists, and transgender advocates -- the advantages someone who has earned north of $125,000 for many years can afford.
Not to mention a wardrobe from Saks Fifth Avenue.
Her story has been covered by virtually every media outlet from an interview on Larry King Live! to Newsweek and The Daily Show, and has a long, detailed Internet biography on Wikipedia.
This celebrity is among the reasons she's made herself available for scores of media interviews and appeared nationally so many times she's lost track. "I've had advantages many (transsexuals) have never had ... It's one of the reasons I've been willing to put myself out there. It's one of the last minorities that people have to learn about," and she's not squandering the opportunity.
"It's all about education," she says. Though she admits she is not yet an expert on all of the challenges she and others face, her research has been extensive. "There are so many broken, battered individuals out there whose lives have been so dysfunctional because they've had to go through so much," she said, forced to live their lives as a gender with which they can't identify ... "It's the least I can do.'
Stanton says she's identified with girls and women since childhood.
She has agents and advisors and California media handlers, and a whole bunch of "projects" in the works -- TV appearances, a book or two, maybe a movie. But if this city's job comes through, those things will move into the background. She thinks if she gets the job, the hoopla will die down quickly. The job itself, after all, is less than glamorous.
She spent the week lobbying members of Congress on issues facing transgendered individuals.
Former Sarasota Mayor and City Commissioner Mary Anne Servian got to know Stanton pretty well at a three-week course for local elected and appointed officials they both attended at Harvard University. And she hosted the Largo officials when Stanton brought them down.
"She's a true leader;' she said. "Largo's department heads thought the world of [Steve Stanton], who's incredibly knowledgeable about the workings of government and a great person, really likable."
She said she knew Stanton had been visiting Sarasota for a long while as a woman, "and because she was so comfortable here, she began to think of Sarasota as her home town.
"What she's doing in applying for the position here is incredibly courageous, right in the middle of all this publicity. The easiest thing to do, with a wife and a child, would have been to keep living the lie ... I liken it to a medical condition ... and once it's past, I think all the fanfare will die down.
"I think she'd make a great city manager. She's a very strong leader, too. I believe she'd shake things up a bit," Servian said. "But the city commission is going to have a really difficult decision facing them ... There will be a lot of pressure (not to hire her)."
Susan Stanton is well aware that despite all the talk of tolerance and understanding, and the city's reputation as an inclusive sort of place, the hurdles earning a job here, so soon, are especially formidable. Elected officials are still elected. City employees, especially from the police and fire departments, will be at the very least, uneasy.
"What I will have to convince them is: I am not a man in a dress. They will have to meet with me and learn I am who I am, that I am authentic," she said, and that, above all, she is a highly skilled city manager.
One-on-one she is formidable. Sincerity, intelligence and common sense permeate any discussion.
Still, city's commissioners will have a tough time saying no -- or yes -- to this candidate for Sarasota's top job.
By Rick Barry
Pelican Press

end quote...

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Virginia]

Thanks Danielle,
I think we all hope she makes it and even if she does not - damn she has taken a lot of arrows for us - a true pioneer!
Virginia

[Danielle La Belle]

Hi Girls:

I must admit, there are some questions swirling about in my head. As this is “Crossdressers-Forum,” and not specifically “Transsexual-Forum,” while we may benefit as a group from Susan’s efforts, how we benefit has come to mind. Susan is going SRS next summer. Simply put, she will no long pee through a specific, nature-designed penis. Nor will she have the typical “scrotum sac” that is a must for sperm development and transportation on a daily basis.

Thus, we then have decided that the lack of such human instrumentation will define Susan as a “female.” Perhaps in the eyes of the law, this change will make Susan suitable in the “ladies Powder room.” Or at minimum it will show the world just how serious Susan Stanton is about making the change.

If that is the case, if the world accepts that “offering” on the medical altar, then unless we make the same offering we will not be in the same class/group as Susan Stanton and will not be granted the same privileges and rights as “she.” Makes perfect sense to me.

How did I come about thinking this way? Well, I have noticed that on one level, I am not repulsed nor do I feel revulsion when I see myself in the mirror as Danielle Marie. I am both used to the appearance and when I was not, I still felt the need to try to design and develop a Danielle Marie image. That is, I did not feel negative about the reflection that I have designed.

In comparison, my spouse on the other hand, if she were to see me this way in person would most likely “puke” up any stomach contents of the moment. She has known me for 38 years, 32 intimately of those years. So, you would think that it would be no big deal but I guarantee you, it is a very big deal! What I find acceptable on one end of the social spectrum, she is on the complete opposite end of the ruler.

Keep in mind that this is someone that has lived with me part and participle for 38 years and cannot accept this without almost complete revulsion. We still live together for now, but, our conversations become strained and clearly, opposing views are held by each party. Words like, “friends,” and just sharing the house together come up at different times. Not spoken about directly mind you, but none the less, the tension is there.

A friend in the Navy and a “yachtsman,” told me that if the sail becomes to tight, to save the sail, cut the rope….but…..watch out for the Mize boom and the return backlash! It will knock you overboard! I am keeping that in mind these days!

So, keep in mind that if you are dressing [male] on Monday, and [female] on Tuesday, there is always going to be a problem with this. Society for the past 3000 years has always had a way to define male and female apart, even if only by which shoulder their noble toga was worn and supported. Ever since humans decided to cover themselves from the elements, it was apparent that there needed to be a means of identification other than by hair length or “chest fullness.” This gave a clear signal at a distance as to the identity of the individual approaching the clan.

Human history bears out the fact that there were cultural times when death by stoning was reserved for anyone that committed any of several sins thought to be of the worst nature, including, dressing as the other sex/gender. While this may not be the case today in this modern, science based culture, people still carry a severe dislike for anyone that tries to “fool” them into believing that the other party is of the opposite sex/gender. They have died at the hands of another for this deception.

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Virginia]

HI Danielle,
This is somewhat in keeping with CJ's topic of MEME and Dawkins' new book!

You have taken most of "Virginia's Challenge" and made your committment to Danielle. Now it is beginning to sound like you may have to take the second part and I can assure you, from personal tribulations, it ain't pretty, but you know I took the "look in the mirror" and I made my decision. Hopefully you will not have to do it, but you have admitted that you know the possibility exists.

We are here for you and you know we will support you. You are a cornerstone of this forum and have helped more of your sisters than you may ever know, but know this: we are here for you now if you need us!!!

Keep the faith, sweetheart,

Love you,

Virginia

[Danielle La Belle]

Thank You Virginia:

While my compass may appear broken at times, it is more along the lines of Captain Jack Sparrow's unyielding compass (Pirates of the Carribean (series)). It has a destination embedded into it and I will know that destination when I get there.

While I wax and wane a bit at times, I am just making small adjustments in my heading, carefully, with concern for all aboard my life's ship.

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Opinion

Stanton Story Shows Courage
Of Your Newspaper


By Joe Registrato

TAMPA -- It has often been said that one picture is worth a thousand words.

There would be no argument with that proverb in the Petersburg Times newsroom the day after Mother's Day, 2007.

Outraged readers sent thousands of words complaining about St. Pete's front page treatment of Steve/Susan Stanton's coming out on page 1-A on Mother's Day.

"You have insulted every mother who ever lived by choosing to run Steve/Susan Stanton’s picture on your front page on Mother’s Day," one reader said. She continued, "Your choice is beyond my comprehension. Steve/Susan Stanton made his/her choice; the St. Petersburg Times made their choice and now, after 40 years as a subscriber, I am making my choice to cancel my subscription."

Another reader said, "The St Petersburg Times’ radical decision to run a story about “Susan” Stanton, the transgendered self promoter on your first page on Mothers’ Day was a serious PR error. This “in your face” practice has earned you the contempt of many statewide over the years. Stanton never has, and never will be able to give birth to a child and become a mother in the natural, biological, God-given sense. Your decision to take the low road and showcase this poster child for the radical left is disingenuous and a slap in the face of all mothers in your readership."

My personal favorite was, "Most respectable people DO NOT wish to hear about this."

Many readers threatened to cancel subscriptions; plenty of others complained that the whole treatment was offensive, especially to mothers.

This is old stuff to editors. They’ve heard it all before, about a million times.

I'm betting that the thinking in the newsroom is that the furor in the circulation department, if there is one, will die down in a few days. Anyway, you have to take your hits if you're going to put out a "good" newspaper, that is, one that "simply tells the truth," as St. Pete's slogan used to preach.

I think the editors knew just how much of stir the picture would cause, but also realized that the decision of whether to run it on page one came down to a simple journalistic principle: The Steve/Susan Stanton story is an important national story unfolding in The Times’ backyard, Largo; his first appearance as Susan is as striking an image as you will find, the picture tells the story better than words, way better than words. After all, he was fired, many people believe unfairly, for doing, well, THIS, turning into a woman. The picture tells it all, and tells it best.

The fact that Sunday happened to be Mother's Day, is, I suppose, an unfortunate coincidence. But I should remind everyone that the story that accompanied the picture had nothing whatever to do with mothers or Mother's Day or even women in general. Mother’s Day just happened to be the Sunday before Steve/Susan's big coming out.

Decisions about running news stories are made more or less like this: 1. What’s our best story, which includes an analysis of how many people are affected, what will it cost taxpayers, is there an emotional impact? 2. Is there a reason to NOT run it, including whether information will be disclosed that might damage some important interest, such as national security? 3. Is there a reason to delay publication, for the same reason as previously expressed? 4. What is the best placement of the story, what section of the newspaper should it run in.

There are probably a dozen other things editors take into consideration depending on the circumstances, including whether the story is local or otherwise, whether people will be shocked or outraged, whether people will change their behavior based on the substance of the story, but these are the main points.

It is my experience that editors do not worry very much about how offensive a story will be, whether it will be particularly offensive on a certain “holiday,” if Mother’s Day can even be considered a holiday.

From a journalistic point of view, it is my opinion that the Steve/Susan Stanton story simply had to be published. Once in hand, the editors were compelled to run it. The picture, well, the picture WAS REQUIRED. The editors simply had no choice.

Many readers said it was a mistake to run the picture/story. These people are entitled to their opinions, but they are wrong.

I’ll tell you what the mistake would have been. The mistake would have been to NOT run the story and picture for fear of "glorifying" Stanton's sex change decision, as some readers complained, or of playing into the hands of a self promoter, as others said, or about offending the mothers in the audience.

Another issue was placement. Some people said it was wrong to run the story on page 1-A. Wrong again. Since it was clearly the "best" thing St. Pete had in the paper on Sunday, it was properly played on page 1-A. Why do I think it was the best story they had?

It's all in the definition. The reader's choice for "best" would have been something about all the dedicated mothers out there who help raise their children in a “healthy way,” or about the women serving in Iraq, as one reader suggested; another reader suggested running yet another run down on taxes and the legislature, a subject to which readers eagerly look forward. Sure they do. Some other said wasn’t there a more important story anywhere in the world?

No. The "best" story in the minds of the editors, are those that provoke, those that spark interest, those that, well, get the kind of response this one did. Plus, you had that picture. This story hit closer to home than any wrap up of the war in Iraq, any regurgitated summary of how President Bush is falling in the polls, any new statements made by politicians from New York or Illinois or even Florida. Page 1-A is where this story belonged.

The picture of Steve/Susan in her business suit/dress is the essence of what "truth" is all about. Pictures don't lie. No abstractions are required. People who don't like the transgender business, people who want to teach their children it isn't God's way, people who believe there are reasons to NOT publish stories, are really saying that they simply don't "wish to know about this," as my favorite reader complained.

I suppose that in explaining my position, I should resort to the old thing about man bites dog, but this analogy seems so worn out, especially to the more sophisticated readers of Media Watch.

One last thing. The cynical might say well, the story in some fashion supported the editorial position of The Times, which has been critical of Largo’s firing of Stanton. This is something for critics to grab onto. People who know about newspapers know better. There is simply no way the editorial position of the newspaper will effect the news department. I suppose it is a principle that readers are asked to take on faith, but once you work there and see it, there is simply no doubt of its enduring quality. There is a large wall between the editorial department and the news department, and I have not seen an example of a breach in that wall at a newspaper like the St. Pete Times.

If you're with me so far, you probably know where I'm headed. It is my favorite soapbox, on which I feel very comfortable.

Readers of the St. Petersburg Times should be proud and thankful they have a hometown newspaper that is courageous, editors who are not worried about offending a few to serve the many. Readers of the St. Petersburg Times should not be canceling subscriptions but signing up for extra ones and sending them to relatives in countries like Iraq or China, where information is controlled and where only sanitized versions of the truth are allowed to reach the masses. These subscriptions would make great lessons on how it is to live in a free country with a free press, lessons about how even unpopular and possibly offensive stories are handled by American newspapers, about how freedom of expression means that, with a few exceptions such as lying, people have a blank check to say what they want to say.

Up until very recently, editors didn’t worry about the kind of heat The Times is taking on this story. They went along doing what they knew was right in the face of a few angry readers who disagreed.

But recently, authorities as well known and respected as Walter Cronkite have voiced concern that the health of American newspapers endangered by falling circulation numbers. Even the most ardent critic of the press should realize the danger. For more on this, see the Media Watch column headlines “When Watchdogs Don’t Bite.”

So maybe it’s not just an idle threat, maybe the editors ought to start worrying more about offending readers than upholding the most basic of journalistic principles. Maybe editors ought to pander to what people think is important rather than what they believe readers need to know.

If the readers of the St. Petersburg Times don't get this, if they do cancel subscriptions in large enough numbers, well, maybe they won't have a St. Petersburg Times to tell them the whole, unvarnished, unfettered truth. Maybe we’ll get what some of us are clamoring for, namely an inoffensive, perhaps even controlled hometown newspaper.

God help us.

Joseph J. Registrato, our Media Watch columnist, writes about the news media for FrontPageFlorida.com. Registrato was a news reporter and editor of The Tampa Tribune from 1971 to 1986, and was graduated from the University of South Florida in 1973 and from Stetson University College of Law in 1989. He now practices criminal and family law in Tampa. He can be reached at r32312@aol.com, or 813-221-5228

end.................

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Trans-Continental
From across the country, another public figure talks about the transition from man to woman

A couple weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times bid farewell to celebrated sportswriter Mike Penner — and welcomed his female incarnation, Christine Daniels.

Though she had always suspected she might be more girl than boy, Daniels said coming out at work was a nerve-wracking process.

"I was completely panic stricken," she said during our phone interview, her bluntness softened by a markedly feminine voice. "At work, I was scared to death."

Scared that she would lose her job. But ultimately, as in Stanton's case, the change had to happen.

Always a feminine and sensitive boy, Daniels first started adjusting her mannerisms in grade school to fend off taunting. "I learned how to mimic boys' behavior very well," says the 49-year-old. "It's a hell of a way to go through life, but transsexuals are extremely adept actors."

Dating was hard for Daniels as a teenager – as was being assertive – and later on, work, too, was difficult.

"Interviews were very hard for me," she says, remembering the "sigh of relief" she would breathe when getting off the phone with a source.

With some therapy, the writer started coming to terms with his gender identity. Two and a half years ago, he allowed himself to venture out in a dress for the first time: once a month, twice a month.

Soon, it became all-consuming. "It reached a point where I could not get through the day anymore as Mike," she says. "I would be at my desk, like on the verge of tears all day. I started feeling so uncomfortable in my body. I couldn't concentrate – 'When can I go out in a dress again?' – or I would walk into a mall and see women looking at clothes and start crying. It was on my mind the entire day."

Such feelings gradually became so excruciating that Daniels resolved to take action. Last July, he nervously started coming out to family members, who accepted him. But the real test, he knew, would be getting his co-workers on board.

Ironically, Stanton's debacle in Largo was an inspiration.

The story was all over the office, and from his perch in California, Daniels was horrified. "The press conferences," she recalls. "To me, that would be a nightmare."

But what horrified Daniels wasn't the exposure and unwanted attention. It was the anxiety demonstrated by the commissioners as they reviewed Stanton's case. "There was a perception that Stanton was purposefully deceiving them," Daniels says. She knew Stanton wasn't being malicious: In most cases, she empathized, transgendered individuals hide their identity out of fear.

Daniels, who describes what happened in Largo as a "glowing example of ignorance" and has since reached out to Stanton, sensed an opportunity to test his own difference with his editors.

You can attribute it to liberal L.A., but the response was a bit more supportive. "Everybody was shocked, stunned," Daniels recalls. "Everybody said, 'You sure hid it well.'"

Daniels was also given the opportunity to declare her new identity via a column, "Old Mike, New Christine":

"When you reach the point when one gender causes heartache and unbearable discomfort, and the other brings more joy and fulfillment than you ever imagined possible," she wrote, "it shouldn't take two tons of bricks to fall in order to know what to do."

end......

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Transcending gender
What Susan Stanton could do for Sarasota
BY JOEL ROZEN


It was a long list, but distinguished, and Tom Freijo wanted to give each candidate equal weight. As the head-hunter presented his 18 semifinalists for Saraota's vacant city manager spot, commissioners took notes and crosschecked resumes with all the pious diligence of an Ivy League admissions office: The city manager from Peekskill, NY. A deputy chief administration officer from Orlando. Private-sector applicants from Arizona and Florida.
As commission meetings go, this one was particularly important: By the end of the afternoon, the candidate pool was to be whittled down to a select group of finalists, a short list of the most qualified names for arguably the city's highest-profile position.
Naturally, the commissioners had specific questions about each: How's her reputation? Did his background check turn up anything? What did she accomplish in her last job?


Then, toward the end of the meeting, Freijo brought up the one name everyone had been waiting for: Susan Stanton.
Cameramen inched forward. Reporters readied their pens. Let the grilling commence.
Nothing.
The commissioners didn't bite. After Freijo described the transsexual former city manager of Largo as "a manager of the highest quality," the five nodded and, without much discussion, moved on to the next candidate.
This wasn't the first time Sarasota officials had elected not to engage with Stanton's shifting gender identity. "The people of Sarasota don't have an issue," commissioner Fredd Atkins said two weeks ago, chiding a Herald-Tribune reporter for wondering about Sarasota's trans-readiness. "You have an issue."
When asked by CL about Stanton's pending transition from Steve to Susan, recently elected Dick Clapp said, "I think it's unfortunate that all the media attention is there. My impression is that being involved in Largo for [14] years is pretty good indication that he has been very effective. That's what we need here, someone who can be effective."
"I guess my question is why there's such a lingering concern," Commissioner Clapp continued. "My gut feel is, if we were to select him, it wouldn't be too long before that gender thing becomes a non-issue."
The commissioners' intent is certainly noble -- to eradicate gender from the hiring process, from the purview of local politics. But by sidestepping the questions, local politicians aren't furthering the conversation about gender. They're downplaying its importance.
There's no question that hiring Susan Stanton would be a move toward tolerant and modern thinking. But if Sarasota is going to consider her, the city needs to do it right.
We need to engage with the obvious.
Transsexuals challenge our concept of gender. They operate outside the binary system most of us know and understand: They are not seen as fully male, nor fully female. They force us to confront the existence of an in-between -- of gender as a continuum, not as two fixed points.
And when we don't confront the obvious, when we don't discuss why people are uncomfortable with transsexuals, that's when the Steve Stantons of the world get fired.
The story showed up everywhere, from Newsweek to The Daily Show: On February 21, the 14-year city manager of Largo in Pinellas County was prematurely "outed" by the St. Petersburg Times. In an online article, "Largo Official Preparing For Sex Change," the paper revealed Stanton's double life: going to "clubs, the symphony and the grocery store as a woman, but only in places like Orlando, Jacksonville and Atlanta." In addition, he'd been taking hormones for two years and contemplating eventual sex reassignment surgery, a plan he'd only shared with a few close confidantes.
"The first person I told in the city organization was the city attorney," Stanton told CL's David Warner in March. "After that it was the fire chief, the police chief, the human resource director."
The media knew before his parents.
Largo's commissioners took the news especially hard. Less than a week later, a special meeting was held at City Hall to evaluate Stanton's revelation and discuss its implications. The seven-person commission reviewed his case and, in a five-to-two vote, put him on administrative leave.
Stanton's removal was in direct violation of a 2003 Largo anti-discrimination policy; but there are no state statutes protecting gender identity discrimination and, in any case, the parameters of Stanton's contract would make such legal proceedings difficult.
Stanton's former colleagues were not to be swayed, however; after a public hearing on March 23, they fired their city manager on the grounds that Stanton's secret made him seem untrustworthy.
Stanton had hoped to go public in June, when his son would be out of town. It was part of the "transition plan" he'd hatched with his wife and therapist, a blueprint for the announcement and its ramifications. He hoped the strategy might help him deal with skeptics at work.
"It takes about two weeks," Stanton told Warner in March. "When you tell somebody that you're a transsexual, that has a profound impact on who they feel they were talking to. ... that's a clinical response, that first I'm angry and then I've been quote unquote deceived. The next step is ... understanding and almost empathy, and that was the most important part of our transition plan, getting people in that could say, this is what it is, this is what it's not. ... And that never took place. It never took place."
So why do employers so often panic when a sex change is brought to light?
"People are uncomfortable with the notion of changing sex," explains Anne Lawrence, founder of the Transsexual Women's Resources website. "It's viewed as perverse, sexually deviant -- even for liberals, it's very disorienting. Co-workers that make folks uncomfortable are often gotten rid of."
Dr. Lawrence, herself transgendered, has grappled for years with the effects of a gender switch on the work environment.
"If somebody changed their name or religion, got married or got divorced," asks the Seattle-based psychotherapist, "would that prompt you to reevaluate them? To what extent are those things relevant?"
But then she pauses. "On the other hand, it's not quite that simple. There are relationships that change given one's gender. You could say that changing one's gender has broader implications."
It forces people to acknowledge -- or ignore -- a less-rigid concept of gender. "There's a way in which transsexual women are not ordinary women," Lawrence says. "Somebody like Mr. Stanton has been socialized a man, no matter his gender identity ... if he's worn the [male] mask long enough, he'll come to resemble it. But he'll be seen as an unusual woman ... he may speak differently than other women. He may be seen as profoundly strange to some people."
If being transsexual implied no more than a clean departure from manhood (and cleaner entry into femininity), perhaps gender switching wouldn't be so "strange" to some. Still, with a case like Stanton's, we must be prepared to confront the in-between -- and the fact that the confrontation may not be easy.
"When people meet a transgendered person, all of a sudden they don't trust their ability to differentiate between male and female," posits Chloe Rounsley, co-author with Dr. Mildred Brown of True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism. "Often, they're less concerned about being compassionate, and they're more concerned about being right. You can't be this, you can only be that. [Transsexuals] are on a gender continuum, and people suddenly have to rethink their ideas on things. That makes many people nervous."
Rounsley, a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, broke new ground in 1996 with the practical guide, a nearly 300-page resource for transsexuals, their families, friends and co-workers, which even includes a template for a coming out letter:
"I realize that some of you may have trouble understanding this. In truth, I've had to live with it every day of my life, and even I don't understand it."
The perils of this lack of understanding can be manifold, say those who've struggled to help transsexuals keep their jobs or get new ones after transitioning.
"It can be a kiss of death," explains Ricki Liff, outreach supervisor for COPE, a pioneering program offering social services to the working-class trans community in Pinellas County.
For decades, the self-described "reality therapist" (also transgendered) has coached others in finding practical ways to navigate the turbulent first stages of a changed identity. The trick, she says, often lies in showing them how to blend in at work or find a more welcoming business.
"If we can refer people to another employer who's more trans-friendly, we will," she says. "But let's be honest: When you change from a man to a woman, you have to learn new behaviors anyway. If as a man you're used to spitting in the street and scratching your armpits, you have to watch what you do."
While the transition to both genders can prove equally damaging to a career, Liff reasons that workplace anxiety hits males-to-females harder because "there's more latitude for women to be masculine" in the office.
Liff will often help a transsexual cultivate a professional wardrobe ("We might counsel them not to wear a miniskirt") and adhere to a new set of office politics ("You can't buck the dress code").
"Sometimes you'd be surprised at how little they know," adds the social worker.
It appears that for a transsexual to hold down a job these days, she has to do as little to defy our black-and-white notion of gender as possible.
And in the public sector, the challenges only intensify.
Known to her clients as "the patron saint of transsexuals," Dr. Kathleen Farrell has devoted years to gender therapy, her outreach ranging from Pinellas residents coping with the often-painful first stages of "coming out" to their family and co-workers.
"I would like to think our society is ready to accept transsexuals as a matter of course," says Farrell, "that they would go back into the very same job. But in the public sector, that becomes a much bigger issue."
And Farrell's had occasion to watch one such case unfold from up close: For over four years, the doctor has helped Stanton face her own identity issues. The road's been hard, Farrell says, but she has confidence in Stanton's abilities.
She had to adjust her techniques a bit. Normally, Farrell says, when coming out to colleagues, a transsexual has to be "well-prepared and ... have specific timelines"; Stanton and his family had to make "even more formalized guidelines about how they're going to go about this."
"Most individuals I deal with, [planning and formalizing] isn't part of their job to begin with," she says. "But [Stanton] is used to that within her job -- to have timelines for what happens -- and have them written and approved. She's going to approach this much differently than someone who works at Publix."
As city manager, Stanton's burden would include introducing a curious public to a transient concept of gender. Farrell believes that Stanton is up for the challenge.
"I think someone like Susan knows what it's like to be under public scrutiny in any event," Farrell explains, "I think she's very used to this. Sure I have concerns for her emotional well-being ... [but] I think Susan's a career person and you can't separate that from her."
For Sarasota, then, the real learning experience would not come from realizing that a transsexual can handle city management -- we already know she can. It would come from our seizing the opportunity to ask questions -- of Susan, of ourselves -- and wrestle with the complex issues of gender identity.
Because whether or not we admit it publicly, we all have a little wrestling to do.

end.....
Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Hi Girls:

My observation is that responsible, educated, intelligent people are responding to Susan Stanton in a positive manner. Obviously, there are many "angles" that this story can take, and has, but, for the most part, today's society is getting better for the most part.

Yes, there are going to be those that bad mouth us and hate us and even, take a life or two. It is going to happen with 3000 square miles and 300 million people living under one flag, while still showing support for their heritage and religious beliefs.

We are the "Melting Pot," of the planet. Surely, you cannot expect perfection and perfect harmony over everything. We need those of a different opinion. They keep us grounded and looking for the "truth." Within our own community we have those that will throw a stone or two without much thought.

I think that it is important that we demonstrate a model of propriety and respect for the world around us and we will get back 10 fold, the same.



Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Baynews9 - 05-29-07 - Tuesday - Mid-Day

Tuesday was a big day for Largo's former city manager.

Sarasota commissioners interviewed Susan Stanton and four other city manager candidates. They may make a decision on one of them Wednesday.

Stanton applied for the job after being fired as Largo's city manager a month after announcing plans to become a woman. The 48-year-old has applied for a legal name change from Steve, but said gender reassignment surgery is at least a year away.

Stanton spent most of last week in Sarasota, a city she said she has gotten to know well. Sarasota is where Stanton lived as Susan Ashley one weekend every other month for the past five years, she said.

It's where she shopped, dined and attended the opera, theater and symphony. It's also where Stanton went to the Church of the Redeemer, an Episcopal church.

"It's where Susan grew up, " she said.

To prepare for this week's interviews, Stanton walked around downtown, talked with community leaders, met the police chief and went on a ride-along with a police lieutenant.

Sarasota's finalists include two candidates who, like Stanton, have extensive administrative experience.

Sunrise City Manager Patrick Salerno has led the city of 90,000 since December 1990. He has 22 years of Florida local government experience. The other candidate, Robert Bartolotta, has been Jupiter's town manager for four years.

Information from Bay News 9's partner, the St. Petersburg Times, was used in this report.


end of Report

Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Danielle La Belle]

Hi Girls:

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t!

A familiar phrase in short; something that we are all familiar with.

Susan is one of two (2) people with more than 10 years experience. Susan, with 14 years in Largo, not considering previous employment outside of Florida, and Patrick Salerno (current City Manager of Sunrise Fla.), with 22 years of Florida local government experience (not all as a City Manager – 17 years with Sunrise as CM).

Salerno has 3 more years as a CM in Florida than does Stanton. This is just the math girls, not the end. Considering the incredible variations due to the human element in city and county government in any locale, Stanton still has a good chance of being the new CM for Sarasota.

Remember the first line of this entry girls. Well, so goes the Sarasota Commissioners. People are going to buzz if Stanton is not chosen. Even with the best of intentions, her record is going to be hard to dismiss. There are a few places on planet earth that I for one would rather not be and as a commissioner for Sarasota would be on my hit parade of no-no’s.

Shall we toss a coin and see whom wins? My vote is on Stanton! She has a good political base behind her now and with the reports that I read, well, it would be in the best interest of Sarasota to give her a try. After all, what have they really got to lose? They can always “fire her,” for not disclosing her addiction to watermelon and cantaloupe.



Hugs

Danielle Marie

[Lydia]

Rooting for Susan !

There was an opportunity for the public to get in its licks on the choice for City Manager. Contrary to my pessimistic predictions, the negative outcry was delightfully small. We should hear the decision shortly.

Lydia

[DonnaT]

She didn't get it, and was only the third choice.

The five commissioners ultimately voted to hire Robert Bartolotta, 59, who resigned as city manager of Jupiter in 2004 to care for his terminally ill wife. She has since died. Their second choice was Marsha Segal-George, 54, a deputy chief administrator in Orlando.

[Virginia]

Well since we were not privy to the resumes of the candidates it would be difficult to second guess the commission at this juncture. I have a feeling that Susan's "situation" had some bearing on the selection process, but we may never know.

We can only wish her the best as she continues her own "Magical Mystery Tour!"

Virginia

[Danielle La Belle]

Hi Girls:

I am disappointed but not surprised. I am 59 and it is nice to see that we can still get a decent job. Although, it was certainly easy to see that the Commissioners played it safe and decided to bet on the "sympathy card", knowing there was some press coverage on Mr. Bartolotta's putting his wife into the "ground."

Sarasota as long been are area that reflects the "senior" way of life so I imagine that this decision plays into their favor. I think Susan has many other opprtunities coming up that will give her an opportunity to demonstrate in a favorable manner, her decision to represent the women of America and the TG community-at-large!

http://www.epiphanydigest.com/

Hugs

Danielle Marie
A devoted Fan looking for the truth.